Pete Burton

After a degree in Human Biology I worked in London in a variety of interesting but temporary medical research assistant jobs with no prospects attached. Keen to leave the capital, I managed to persuade UWE in Bristol to let me onto a 1 year MSc in IT.

I went on to work in IT for 25 years in various roles. I spent most time, 12 years, at Bristol University starting in Windows, Linux and Mac and database support, then team leadership, and finishing as Change Manager for the whole IT department.

Throughout, my analytical and problem solving ability coupled with an eye for fine detail was of great use to the organisation as well as my technical skills. I could also be very creative and create new programs to solve problems when they arose. Some of these were significant enough to be adopted more widely by the organisations I worked for.

My record in the emotional aspect of life is more complicated and I have suffered with anxiety for all of my adult life. This has been very severe at times and I tried 10 different drugs before happening on one that works very well. Suffice to say that my experience of dealing with mental health services has not been a good one.

Since then I have managed to build a life that fits well with my particular makeup and am content. I live in a small flat in central Bristol with my partner and cat. Living on very little, I gain satisfaction from mostly solitary activities, walking around in nature, cycling in the countryside and, at home, playing guitar and banjo and working on IT related activities and learning 3D modelling programs.

I am motivated to assist those who have also struggled to access mental health support and am a member of the Independent Mental Health Network that is attempting to improve provision in and around Bristol. At the Centre for Rewilding I provide a researched and analytical view of ideas and plans to the Directors when required, with the aim of avoiding potential later problems in the project.